Page 127 of His Eternal Claim

“Selene! Come back!”

I don’t look back. I fly down the staircase, my heart hammering against my ribs so violently that it hurts. I don’t know where I’m going. I just need to escape the room, escape the chains, escape the monster.

I round a sharp corner at the bottom of the stairs, my hands scraping against the cold molding of the walls until I burst through a swinging door into the kitchen.

Two women are standing near the island. At the sound of my ragged breathing and the violent slam of the doors, they both turn.

A loud, horrified gasp escapes the older woman’s lips.

“Selene?”

It’s his Mother. Another shadow.

She takes a step toward me, her pale face filled with a mixture of shock and terror as she takes in my appearance.

But I don’t see her face. I look straight past her, to the counter beside her.

Resting on a wooden cutting board is a silver knife.

Take it.

Protect yourself, Stina!

Before the women can even react, I lunge forward and pull it up, holding it out in front of me with both hands. My chest heaves as I back away into the center of the kitchen, pointing the steel directly at his Mother’s chest.

“Stay back!” I scream. “Don’t touch me! None of you touch me!”

Zagreus fills the doorway, his eyes instantly locking onto the blade reflecting in my hands. His entire frame freezes in lethal stillness as his gaze cuts from the knife in my hand to his trembling Mother standing just feet away.

“Selene,” Zagreus murmurs, his voice dropping into a dangerously low whisper that vibrates through the entire room. He slowly raises his hands, palms open, taking a single step forward. “Drop the knife. Right now.”

His voice sounds like it’s coming from the bottom of the ocean.

He’s going to kill you, Stina!

Mama screams from the ceiling.

“Look at his hands, they’re covered in our blood!” Crystella screeches. “Do it! Do it! Cut the monster down!”

The voices collide. The world spins. I can’t breathe. The parasite in my stomach is clawing at my ribs. I look at Zagreus, but I don’t see my husband anymore. I see the beast from the chapel. I see the shadow that stole my family.

With a shriek, I lunge forward. I raise the knife, pouring every ounce of my terror, my grief, and my broken sanity into it as I aim the strike straight at his chest. I am going to end it. I am going to kill the monster.

“No! Selene, stop!”

A shadow suddenly blurs into my peripheral vision.

Before the blade can reach Zagreus, his Mother throws herself directly into my path. She steps in front of him, her arms outstretched.

The silver steel sinks into her flesh.

Time snaps back into reality. The screaming voices in my head instantly vanish.

I stumble backward, my hands releasing the hilt of the knife.

His Mother gasps, her eyes wide as she looks down at the stab wound in her sternum.

Red pours out, soaking through her pale blouse, splashing onto the cold marble island. It mimics the dress from my dream. Splashes of red on white fabric.